Center Grove’s Brody Holubar hits out of a bunker during the Johnson County tournament on Thursday.
Rob Baker | For the Daily Journal
Noah Reed figured he would walk the 10th hole at the Legends Golf Club just the one time on Thursday.
Given the circumstances, the Greenwood Christian junior was happy to approach the tee box yet again.
Reed birdied the par 5 to oust Center Grove’s Drew Hardin in a playoff and earn medalist honors at the Johnson County tournament. Both players had 4-under-par scores of 68 to earn the right to take it to their sport’s version of overtime.
Hardin parred the 10th the second time around.
“I birdied it in the round today, so I felt pretty good going back to it,” said Reed, whose previous best at The Legends was a 72 last season at sectional. “I hit it farther than a decent amount of players, so par 5s are usually my strength.
“This was definitely a goal, but I knew to help the team get as high in the standings as we could, I would have to go out there and play like I did today.”
Center Grove coasted to the team title with a score of 291. Greenwood, led by freshman Kalen Rowland, placed second with a 320. A stroke back in the third spot was Franklin, while GCA was three back of the Grizzly Cubs with a 324.
Led by Isaac and Aaron Spurgeon both shooting 85, Indian Creek secured fifth place (354), outdistancing Whiteland (375) and Edinburgh (383).
All seven squads return here Monday morning for the Franklin Sectional, the first step of what Center Grove coach Matt Rodman hopes is yet another lengthy postseason run.
Winning county made for a nice tune-up.
“We always go with a one hole at a time, one stroke at a time mentality, and it’s playing the golf course, not playing your opponents,” Rodman said. “This is Franklin’s home course, and you never know how they’re going to play.
“We never take anybody lightly or for granted. The kids just came out, grind hard and play one hole at a time.”
Joining Reed and Hardin on the five-person all-tourney team were Center Grove sophomore Nathan Springer with a 73 and his Trojan teammate James Beetz, who matched Greenwood’s Rowland at 74.
“I thought I played pretty good,” Springer said. “I had a pretty solid front nine. I had four birdies today, but I just made some stupid bogeys, but a 73 is still solid. County is definitely kind of a pride thing. You want to win, and be the best team in your area. (But) our ultimate goal is to win state.”
All five all-tournament golfers are underclassmen — none younger than Rowland, who was making his county debut.
“It feels really good to be able to do that knowing how much I left out there,” Rowland said. “I feel like I just didn’t really have anything on today. I wasn’t really dropping as many putts as I’d like.”
Rounding out the Trojans’ lineup, Noah Parsetich shot 76 and junior Brody Holubar carded an 82.
Other scores of note included Franklin’s Matthew Ferguson with a 79, and GCA freshman Finn Satre and Greenwood’s Davis Arthur with 80s. Leading Whiteland and Edinburgh were Tysen McGary and Brent Burton with respective scores of 90 and 91.
In a matter of days, they’ll be back to challenge The Legends with the possibility of postseason advancement there to entice them.
“The front nine here is very demanding on hitting fairways. I don’t even know if I hit a fairway on the front side,” Beetz said. “Got off to not a hot start, but was happy mentally and made four birdies on the back.
“I feel like the back nine is very gettable here, and there’s a lot of birdie holes out there. There isn’t a hole out there that you really can’t birdie. And the par 5s are very gettable there, too.”
